Freedom come
by bhut
Summary: Grant Ward is free! And he's got a plan - a revenge plan - to implement on top of it. Mid-S2 spoilers. Now updated.
1. Chapter 1

**Freedom come **

_Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Whedon and Marvel™._

Grant was free!

He was walking away from the armored, military-grade vehicle, which was supposed to contain him safely until he arrived to whatever place Christian had arranged for him; maybe Christian's plan actually involved a little heart-to-heart once again, but Grant did not care.

Grant was free!

Behind him the armored vehicle still smoked, as the remainder of the soldiers that were supposed to keep him bound finally dropped dead.

Grant was free!

Coulson had made it fully clear that Grant was no longer a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. that he was on his own, as Grant's little walk of shame had shown. Maybe it was supposed to have a side effect of shaming Grant onto the right side of the Force, Grant did not care. Before there was S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, even Garrett, there had been him, his own walks of shame, thanks to Christian, and loneliness. All that Garrett did by abandoning him in the forests swamps of the southern states was to teach him _greater_ self-sufficiency instead – and Grant had excelled at that.

Grant was free!

No, all that Coulson did, unintentionally, was to make Grant Ward angry. Unlike the Hulk of whom Grant had heard hearsay, Grant did not turn green or big – bigger – but he did get angry. His convoy had the misfortune of experiencing this firsthand and Coulson...actually, Coulson would be the last – brother Christian was still the first. Maybe he even would not kill his former S.H.I.E.L.D. superior with his bare hands. Maybe. How he would kill his brother – now _that_ was up for grabs.

Grant was free!

Skye... now _that_ hurt. Skye was the first person Grand had cared about in a long, long time, especially when it came to women. He was honestly being honest with her, trying to help her, trying to rejoin her father – only to be short-charged when S.H.I.E.L.D. had discovered that Skye's father had secrets of his own – and his returned to bite Grant in the butt. Clearly, some further investigation was to be done if he was to bring Skye back to him – _if_... That was a big if.

Grant was free!

The rub was that Grant never really knew what to do with freedom before – not with his family, Garrett, S.H.I.E.L.D. superiors, etc giving him orders – but now this situation was different. Grant was free, and he was not about to lose that freedom to anyone, not even to Skye, not now that he even had the beginnings of a plan of his own.

Grant was free!

And his brother – and the rest of the enemies on his list – were screwed.

End


	2. Chapter 2

**A deal**

_Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Marvel™._

The lay of the land was that normally, once the euphoria of freedom wore off, Grant Ward would be lost. Throughout his life, he used to either have no freedom to chose, no choices to make, or to have the others make them for him – thus was how he lost Skye, Fitz and Simmons, the rest of the team. Grant does not argue, he agrees – he is not very good at making decisions for himself. But when it comes to family, things, ah, are different.

Grant Ward _hates_ his biological family, pure and simple, and they hate him back. He had followed John Garrett down to the bitter, pointless end for a number of reasons, not just because he had owed the older man _everything_ (and so _everything_ was taken from him), but because, for all of his flaws, the elder double-agent had always been a better father to Grant than Mr. Ward ever was.

Sometimes, when he thinks of fathers, Grant thinks about Phil Coulson, about choices and role models – even he does not consider himself to be _that_ stupid, he knows that if had chosen a different person, made a different choice period – he'd...be a different person, for if it wasn't for Garrett, he'd never been in S.H.I.E.L.D., never met his ex team-mates, never had anything that he had lost in the first place. Does that matter? Grant does not know.

What he _does_ know is that Coulson had sold him out to his brother like a piece of meat, a bargaining chip, and that makes all the difference – to him. Grant Ward _hates_ his biological family, pure and simple, and they hate him back. Coulson (agent or director, whatever) does not know that, or maybe he does, but does not care about it – big mistake. He had joined Grant's family against him, he had truly become Grant's enemy, and he is going to truly learn what that means.

Grant Ward, normally, is not big on plans, other than 'search and destroy'. His family, however, is special – he had long since made A PLAN for them, a very detailed plan, and now that they are back and are trying to get him for real (and there is no one, no S.H.I.E.L.D. to hide behind), he is going to implement it – somehow. Well, he has most of it down flat, all that he lacks are few small details to polish it, so he is going to spend few more days, or even weeks, to do just that – he is dealing with his biological family now, they're _special_ – in a bad way.

...Only now there is a problem. There is someone already in the safe house that he had designated, as Grant can see Hunter and Morse, two more of Coulson's new acquisitions, (let's start thinking about them like that, rather like formerly fellow agents?), leave the place behind, carrying some personal effects. Inconvenient, but also interesting. The person in the safe house is not Skye (and why would he think that?), but rather Raina. Much more interesting, Grant had not seen the girl in the flower dress in ages, and he thought that she was too smart, cunning and slick to get involved in the S.H.I.E.L.D.-Hydra feud ever again – but she is also the person he can use, her and her silver tongue.

Grant spends several weeks, rather than days, getting his materials together, stalking the place, lying low in general and avoiding the attention of others – other people in general. He is good at that, and now that he has a plan – an even clearer plan than before – he is very good.

And then, almost two months over, the preliminaries are over (without Raina, Grant would have been done in two weeks instead, but Raina and her spin-doctor skills are worth it), and it is off to talk to the girl in the flower dress.

/

The first time Raina had seen Grant Ward in months since their parting of the ways at Cybertek, and it scares her much more than she would expect – she had encounters with her employer Cal and Hydra head, Whitehall, and escaped from them relatively unscathed, and both of them are powerful, deadly men, each in his own right – but Grant Ward is something else. The indecisiveness that had haunted him back at Cybertek has vanished without a trace, the man standing before her is leaner than before, but also harder, and there is a very specific determination in his eyes that had not been there before.

"Agent Ward, it's been a while since I saw you," she says carefully, trying to make a distance between them – if he'd been sent to kill her, she's doomed, and she wants to live, no matter how crappy her life had become lately. "How's Hydra?"

"I have no idea," Grant replies easily. "I've done working for _them_, and I am almost done with S.H.I.E.L.D. too. Why are you staying in one of their safe houses?"

"A deal made in regards to protection from Whitehall and Hydra," Raina allows herself a tiny sliver of hope that she is going to live for another day or even two. "I got tracking devices implanted in my skin – both from them and Hydra," and she points them out, where they are imbedded.

"I see," Grant nods solemnly. "I can remove them from you in exchange for _two_ things. Secondly – why are you _here_, involved with Garrett, Hydra, Coulson, S.H.I.E.L.D., et cetera?"

"Because-" Raina wants to say Skye, but she is not sure just how well this new, different Grant Ward would react to that name, so she says instead: "-of aliens. There is a hidden temple in Puerto Rico that can give the right person the power and knowledge unimaginable, locked by a Diviner that came from beyond the stars! I want it, Grant Ward, I want it, and I'm willing to deal with anyone who can help me get that Diviner away from Hydra – even you, Grant Ward," she adds for a further measure, since there _is_ a noticeable glimmer of interest, aimed towards her and her words.

(It had been _weeks_, if not _months_, since anyone showed any interest in what she was saying and Raina finds Grant's attention even more flattering than she normally would. The fact that he is easy on the eye does not hurt either.)

"What does it look like? Do you have a picture on you right now?" the man asks, curiously.

"Here," Raina pulls out the photo of the Diviner. It is not very good, but Grant Ward takes a good long look at it with genuine attention. "Ever seen anything like it?"

"Yes," Grant answers, leaving Raina open-mouthed. He pulls out a photo of his own from a pocket – it too is an old photo, but not as old as Raina's, and in a better condition. "This is a very small, very ancient and well-hidden mountain shrine in the south-west Himalayas," he explains, as he shows the photo to Raina. It too features the Diviner...but it is a different Diviner: the markings are different, and it is clearly _not_ Puerto Rico. "It is under protection of World Security Council. Help me with the other thing, and I will introduce you – and your friends, if you have any."

That is a depressing thought, actually. Aside from Cal, Raina does not have anyone in the world who cares about her...and that actually includes Cal. All that that man cares about is his daughter, the Sparkly-Sparkly Princess Poots as Raina has dubbed her (but never in Cal's presence, that is very stupid), and Raina is heartily sick of her by now. Plus...the World Security Council? Now that is a tasty carrot.

"And how are you going to do that?" Raina asks, though not tartly enough as she normally would – the thoughts of _another_ Diviner are something else. "You're even less popular with the crowd than _I_ am, and that is saying something."

"Which is the first thing that I am asking you – for help," Grant nods, still unshaken. "You're very good with words and with making them dance. I got all the facts already – can you make them more polished?" He gives Raina a memory stick, which she puts into her computer (she does have one, though she is certain that S.H.I.E.L.D. is monitoring it at least some of the time), still quite curious – is it more about the Diviner(s)?

...It actually isn't, but it is actually even more interesting – it's information, very personal, very private and powerful information, the sort of information that is bread and butter to Raina, even more so than the aliens are (the aliens are her dream, this is more like day to day reality instead), and the sort that she'd been kept away – starved even – by S.H.I.E.L.D.

Still... some things do not quite add up. "Are you sure that you will be able to get away with this – and by 'you' I mean us?" she hastily amends. "I've been at blackmailing a long while longer than you have, I bet, S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra training or otherwise-"

"Oh, you don't understand," Grant is not perturbed. "I just want you to polish the text and make it more presentable, more people-friendly, or whatever the right name for that is. I am not going to blackmail anyone – on the contrary, I am exposing all of this to the public. My biological family has declared an open season on me? I will give it to them – right between the eyes. And then, while the dust settles, I'm going to help you back."

"How so?" Raina mutters. A secret this powerful should be guarded and treasured, right? Not exposed to the public for the greater good or whatever, yes? "Without leverage-"

Grant sat and began to explain his second plot – the one regarding the _second_ Diviner/Obelisk to Raina. It was a longer explanation than he had expected, though not by much; explaining the complex and unfriendly relationship between the World Security Council and S.H.I.E.L.D. alone took more than 15 minutes – but Raina was listening to it all very, very attentively, and with genuine interest (he hoped). And once he had finished...

"This sounds rather realistic," Raina did her best not to sound impressed, but as a schemer, she knew a good plan when she heard one, and this was one of the better ones. "Put a lot of effort into it?"

"Seven weeks worth," Grant nods, "though that is just _your_ part of this; I planned the part regarding my biological family – Christian, the parental units, etc – for a large part of my life." The last part is half-statement and half-challenge, and Raina, who feels that so far she had received nothing but some really tasty carrots for her mind, most certainly does not rise to it.

There is one last part to it, though.

"What about S.H.I.E.L.D.? Coulson and your former crew?"

"You said it yourself – former. I fucked up so very badly that I cannot deny it – but I did strive to make it better, to fix it. I failed, perhaps, but Coulson and they have allied with my family – my biological family, and that is something else. Now _they_ are on an equal footing with _me_."

"How so?" Raina cannot help but to ask; Grant rolls his eyes, and reveals several entries in his collection – Raina reads them in a greater detail and her eyes widen in astonishment. "This doesn't sound like S.H.I.E.L.D." she says finally, "maybe Coulson actually got fooled?"

"Unlikely," Grant is not very convinced, "but let's make a deal. We will talk to them, and if I being handed over to Christian was the extent of their business together, "we'll give them a copy and keep them out of the business. If not – then not. Does that sound better?"

Raina blinks. She cannot help but feel that she had done something that _matters_, but that is ridiculous; she's is just a small-scale hustler and trickster; a con artist – everyone has said so, including Cal; true, Cal may not be as knowledgeable as she had thought, but still. Things that _matter_ are big, not something small as giving someone a choice, right?

"You okay?" Grant says quietly, seeing how Raina has gone quiet and subdued all over sudden.

"Yes," Raina says firmly, shaking Grant's head and sitting behind her computer – Morse and Hunter aren't due for almost two or three weeks, but she still got a lot to cover. "And we got a deal."

End.


	3. Chapter 3

**What once was broken...**

_Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

Leo Fitz is an unhappy man. He is also an engineer.

Now, these two descriptions don't usually go together, and the point to the latter bit – Leo being an engineer – was that although his was a technological-based profession, Leo Fitz was a humanitarian at heart, who cared not just for technology (and monkeys – clever little monkeys), but also for people. And literature – fiction, especially stories. And role-playing games.

The latter part, actually, caused quite a bit of unhappiness. When you're short, somewhat monkey-like yourself in appearance (it's those damned ears), then being a nerd who likes RPGs is a bad idea, especially when you don't have anyone in your corner who can help you – and then Leo met Jemma Simmons.

It wasn't something known at S.H.I.E.L.D. (at least Coulson or May didn't show any indication of knowing this, which didn't rule the possibility that they still did), but in truth Jemma tended to be on top of Leo in their personal interactions; she wasn't a dominatrix, thank you very much, but the dominant partner in their personal relationship – and that was fine for Leo; Jemma just didn't like RPGs all that much, but since she was the closest (if not the only) friend of Leo Fitz, Leo could live with that.

And then...Leo and Jemma became assigned to agent Phil Coulson and his team, and met other people from other branches of S.H.I.E.L.D., and that included Skye, who shared Leo's love of stories and RPGs, and also Grant Ward, who was far less enthusiastic about this sort of thing, until Skye turned him around – sort of, until he turned into a Hydra agent instead.

Surprisingly even to Jemma (who should have known better) Leo did not despair – he saw it as an opportunity to save the older man from Garrett (who was the villain, after all), and to show everyone that he, Leo Fitz, was an agent and a man! (A manly agent.) And it worked too – to a point where it went horribly wrong and Leo almost died. (Even these days he did not really know how he survived.)

That was not supposed to happen! ...But as days turned into weeks, other things that did not suppose to happen, happened. Grant Ward was found hearty and hale living in a Vault like some sort of a ghoul and he had the gall to look mildly apologetic to Leo as if this was norm for S.H.I.E.L.D. (It wasn't – Leo checked). Leo tried to give Grant a taste of his own medicine – and the man was accepting it – to the point when Jemma almost died...only because Ward had provided the right information just in time regardless of Leo's new attitude towards him. That did not make sense!..

Other things did not make things either – or did, sort of. Leo told himself that he had no problem with Coulson and co. using Grant for information (but if so, why did they trust him regarding the information, why did Grant cooperate in return for nothing at all), that he had no problems in selling Grant (ok, 'handing' him over) to his family in exchange for favors (political favors), but he had a slight problem with Coulson not telling him that Jemma was on a mission against Hydra, so it really wasn't. Okay, that is, even when Jemma did return, (and did not look very happy either).

And then... Grant escaped, and laid low, and vanished without resurfacing for about two months, which was okay – only it wasn't, not when considering that he had been able to avoid Tripp and Morse and Hunter, not when he could possibly massacre them all in a couple of days, not when any arrangements that S.H.I.E.L.D. was supposed to have acquired with his family failed to materialize – no Grant no deal, no endorsements, and Leo...could live with that; somehow the idea that S.H.I.E.L.D. gets endorsed by politicians in D.C. like some sort of commercial product didn't make Leo feel very happy (and not only him – for example, neither May nor Tripp appeared to be too upset when the good senator didn't make good on his promise, though it was always hard to tell with May), so there they were – fighting against Hydra and all, as if nothing has happened, save that they were down one information source. He could live with that, really.

And then Raina called. S.H.I.E.L.D. On a phone.

"Raina," Coulson said, even as the rest of the team listened in, purely by coincidence. (Honestly, _this_ time.) "How did you get this number?"

"Oh, so it still works," Raina replied in evident relief, "we were so worried that you have changed the number-"

"'We', Raina?"

"Yes director Coulson – us," Grant's voice came through the speakers. "My apology, but my information about S.H.I.E.L.D. is outdated, after all."

"... Raina," Coulson finally spoke when he got himself back under control. "We were never friends, but to chose Ward over us? This is foolishness, he isn't even Garrett, he can't offer you anything-"

"Yes sir," Raina's did not sound too impressed on the phone; rather, she sounded a lot like her old self. "Now, our turn. Did you have any dealings with _Senator_ Ward and his family other than the attempt to hand Grant over to them?"

"No," Coulson says carefully, his voice placid and almost emotionless. "We did not."

"Right," and it's Grant once more on the other end. "Thank you for your honesty." A brief pause, as if he was trying to get his bearings. "Now, if you care, can you meet the two of us tomorrow at N street in D.C.? You can bring however many agents as you want, but keep in mind that this will be brief – Raina and I will just give you one final information drop, and then the two of us will be gone from S.H.I.E.L.D. and your lives forever. This we _promise_." And he hangs up.

"Of all the colossal gall!" director Coulson exclaims, but his heart is not really in it. There is something different about this conversation with their former friend and ally, something final. Leo does not like it. He does not know why, but he just does not. The others feel it too, he can see.

"So, this is what Grant had doing to for the last two months – Raina," Skye says with a great deal of bitterness. "Guess we shouldn't be too surprised – she'd been with Garrett too. Still, unlike Ward, she does have original ideas, and with him on her leash-"

"Skye," Melinda says quietly, and Skye subsides, perhaps without too much resentment.

"Phil," Melinda then turns to the director. "I'm going. So's Tripp – you'll need more than one person for backup."

"Me too!" Skye immediately perks up. "I have a bone to settle with both of them."

"Me three!" Fitz joins in. "I want to look into Ward's eyes one last time."

"I'm coming too, then," Jemma says with more reluctance. "I'm not sitting this one out."

And so they leave together – straightaway, because this is Washington D.C., and S.H.I.E.L.D. is still the pariah in many parts of the US, and to set up any operation in the American capital _takes time_...

/

The next morning breaks heavy, overcast, promising a thunderstorm later during the day. It is early summer, so storms are not unusual, but there is still something ominous in the air.

"So where is he?" Skye mutters into her mouthpiece to the others – it is unprofessional, but then again, with all the tension between them, it is understood, if not forgiven.

"There they are," Melinda says suddenly, pointing to a couple walking through the street. It's Grant. And Raina – and they are well disguised.

Well, not so much 'disguised' as 'blending-in with their surroundings'. Grant has fully recovered by now from his stay in the Vault, and looks very much like his old, pre-Hydra self, clean-shaved and all. The expensive and solid suit does not hide the fact that he had regained all of his muscle, and there is no pudge on him still; the large briefcase that he is carrying would be heavy for most people (including S.H.I.E.L.D. agents), but Grant? He carries it without any physical strain.

Raina is on his other side; the girl in the flower dress has exchanged the dress for something more sombre and professional, and appears as if she had been professionally groomed by a, well, a professional, which makes her look rather beautiful, in a high-maintenance sort of way.

...Skye does not care about this; Grant Ward is a traitor and deserves what had come his way; but somehow she did not assume that it would be an expensive suit and the ex-girl in the flower dress at his side. Somehow she assumed that their confrontation, final or not, would be different – not in Washington D.C...

As Grant and Raina approach the team (Coulson is in front, May and Skye on left and right, Tripp in a sniper's position, and FitzSimmons are in the reserve), neither Grant nor Raina shift their stride, though Raina does sidle closer to Grant (though that may be physically impossible, one would think).

"Hello Grant," Coulson says calmly, masking his own concerns – this does not final like any sort of a showdown, not to him either.

"Director," Grant nods in reply but does not slow his stride; though Raina is wrapped around one of his arms, he effortlessly shifts his briefcase, opens it briefly, pulls out a folder, gives it to Coulson, and closed the briefcase in one smooth motion. "It's been a pleasure working for you, and the fault is mine; I wish you and yours all the best," and he and Raina are gone, disappearing down the street among other people, (dressed more similarly to them than to the agents, BTW).

"...If this is a final showdown with Ward, then can I just say _what_?" Skye tries to be sarcastic, but does not quite succeed; like Leo, she believes in stories, and right now, their new-old story with Ward does not fit the ending. "You made it sound very different from this."

"That's because it wasn't – a showdown, especially with a rogue agent," Tripp comments as he finally joins the others. "Leo, Jemma – is one of your robots is on their tail?"

"Yes," Leo nods calmly, and begins to slowly move away from the others (but leaving his comm.-link on). Jemma is the only one who notices it, since the others are busy with the folder, but she quietly follows Leo instead of confronting him. "We're on it."

Tripp nods and returns his attention to the rest of the team who are busy now studying the contents of the folder with some very disturbing looks on their faces – and it isn't easy to shock an agent, even a relatively rookie one, such as Skye.

"What am I missing?" Tripp joins in on the study of the contents, which contain good old printed-up and typed-out evidence of senator Ward and the rest of his _civilian_ family making arrangements – via intermediaries and clandestine, but still making them – with a Somali human slavery slash piracy ring, the Crimson Scorpion smugglers (mostly weapons and drugs, but some mutagens too), a bunch of various terrorist cells abroad (but primarily in Europe, rather than the US), and of course The Pride of California, which is a criminal cabal of very varied and unpredictable supervillain criminals, basically. In short – just the sort of company that S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to find itself in, really, at a time when its PR is already low. (Not.)

"How the Hell did this happen?" Tripp is surprised to hear his own voice – he did not realize that he had even spoken. "Don't we have protocols for this sort of thing?"

"We do," Melinda nods, her voice surprisingly soft and _not_ angry, but Tripp can see why: May is holding onto Skye with one hand, even as the younger woman is searching for something on her tablet, looking half-ready to burst into tears and half into just bolting, running away. "There are. But there are protocols for dealing with sleeper agents in our midst too."

She pauses and continues to talk, and it is hard to say to whom she is talking in particular - Coulson, Tripp, Skye, herself, every one of them, or just to no one. "As a Hydra agent, Grant Ward was to be shot and executed – _cleanly_. If not, if he proved to have valuable information and was cooperating, then S.H.I.E.L.D. would've exchanged the information for creature comforts - basically better living conditions than a Vault, an experienced or clever handler to ensure that the Hydra didn't cheat or renege on the deal, and at the end of it? T.A.H.I.T.I. to ensure that the redemption is complete. Grant Ward got neither; we just let him fester in our midst and infest us all with bad black blood, and this isn't our way-"

"People," Skye thrusts her tablet to the senior, older agents. "Here's some collaborating proof." She shows them her own photos containing to the drug trade between the US (NYC, technically saying) and the Caribbean. The photos there are similar to the ones in Grant's folder, but are clearly different...though not in the subject – people getting tortured for crossing the wrong gang...

"Before I was S.H.I.E.L.D., I was Rising Tide," Skye says quietly, looking completely miserable, unlike her usual, vibrant self. "I still believed in truth, justice, American way and the like. I believed that people who did that to other people in the cities deserve to be taken down, and did my best to help the local police – anonymously, of course. Yet somehow, nothing came out of it, the cases were closed, the palms – greased, and I had to move around, until I found you and the Centipede, and suddenly I had family and friends of my own, and now, suddenly, I discover that they are making arrangements with the men who are behind the torture, and oh God, I feel like running for my van and just keep on going..." Rather than doing that, however, she just hugs Melinda and sticks to her like a limpet.

"I know, Skye," Melinda says gently, (for her, anyways), as she rubs Skye's head, in a caring, maternal manner (for her). "And there is no way to make it better; all I can say is that this sort of thing should have never happened in the first place – where are the FitzSimmons?" And indeed, the youngest agents (age-wise) are nowhere in sight.

Reluctantly, Skye separates herself from her surrogate mother (let us honestly call a spade a spade), and goes to check out on her tablet. The young scientists are alive and are not that far away from the rest of the group.

"...so, you're really gone?" Fitz's voice sounds through the activated comm.-link.

The other four agents are immediately on the move.

/

The FitzSimmons find Grant and Raina not too far away from their initial encounter, clearly unsurprised to see at least _some_ of Grant's old team following them. There is no sign of the robot, which is not that surprising, either.

"Simmons," Grant says quietly, "Fitz. Why are you here?" This time he sounds genuinely surprised, and Leo Fitz has this feeling, the same feeling that caused him to recklessly charge into Garrett's Hydra lair and set off the chain of events that led to him and Jemma sinking to the bottom of the sea. Common sense dictates that this time Leo should keep his mouth shut and back away with Jemma from this confrontation – slowly. Grant can probably take both of them out with one hand tied behind his back, and Raina is not likely to stop him at all.

Screw common sense.

"So it's true? You're really gone?" Leo instead opens mouth and says what he thinks.

"Oh Fitz," Grant just shakes his head. "The damned thing was supposed to FLOAT!"

"Of course it was SUPPOSED to! I told you so myself when I showed you the Bus! It's not about the damned thing!" Leo yells, feeling oddly encouraged. "It's about us, the team! We watched each other's backs! You had to trust us! Don't you understand? Even when Garrett had survived the EMP, you did not have to do that, that thing! We could have still helped you and set you free! Damn it, you still could have been our friend! But no, again, you had to do everything by yourself, you got us out of a mess, and now you are gone! And you still could've been our friend!"

"You mean," Grant replies in a voice that is more similar to Leo's own usual one than to Grant's regular one, "that the offer of friendship was on the table all this time?"

"Yes!" Leo yelps before he truly understands what he is actually _saying_.

The look on Grant's face is something else; "Oh, just go and hug each other!" a woman says and the two men just do it without realizing that it isn't _Jemma_ who says it, but rather they just hug each other and weep.

"So," Raina turns to Jemma then, who is trying not to look like a fish out of water, "this is what friendship at S.H.I.E.L.D. looks like? I think that I am tempted to try it out for myself."

"Um," Jemma really puts her PhD to get use here, as she wittily tries to establish what Raina _means_ – is she teasing, does she coping for a feel, is it anything else? She is saved by the timely arrival of the rest of the team - who are struck dumb, just a bit, by the sight of two straight men crying and hugging each other.

"Ward?" Coulson's face is twitching, rather like a computer avatar, whose program had experienced some sort of a fatal error and has to shut down. "Can we talk?"

Grant disentangles himself from Fitz and looks at Raina. "Follow us," the latter replies, and the increased group goes into a nearby hotel, (probably staked out earlier by Ward for some purpose).

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

**...Can be fixed?**

_Disclaimer: all characters belong to Marvel™, really._

The next few minutes – more than a few, actually – are awkward, to say the least. Grant and Raina are sitting with their backs to a wall, watching the room around them and the door across. Leo and Jemma are sitting next to them, with the rest of Coulson's team on the opposite side of the table. It is relatively early, it is still breakfast time, and somehow everyone end up having pancakes with coffee, some sort of a table syrup and butter, thus the awkward silence can be explained in part also by everyone having breakfast, instead of conversation.

"This is really good," Raina finally breaks the silence to Jemma and Grant, who are sitting next to her, and to Melinda, who is sitting across. "They are just pancakes, but they are still good. Do you know everything, every place around here, Grant?"

"No, but I remembered enough from what our... parents, my biological parents had taught us – Christian, me, Thomas," Grant replies carefully, eyeing the others openly. "Back then they assumed that I would follow them in their tracks, but somehow I never did."

"I wonder why," Skye mutters bitterly.

"Good question," Grant shrugs. "I guess, to use the metaphors that Fitz had once used, I just felt like a character in the wrong story, or maybe like a wrong character in their story, and just wouldn't confirm, but just sought a way out, until I found it – or perhaps John Garrett had found me. And there we are."

"Yes," Coulson says, still coldly but nowhere near his former level of hostility. "There we are. Are you happy?"

"Honestly, director?" Grant looks the older man in the eye firmly. "When I was part of your team? Then, yes, I was happy. And let us be honest – I lost it all, everything, threw it away, when I followed my SO. He had given me S.H.I.E.L.D. and everything in it – and so I lost it all for his sake." He pauses. "I tried to fix it, I tried to be useful, but that wasn't enough or just flat-out wrong. I accept it. But my brother, the rest of his family, they are something else. Do not try to make _them_ useful, director – they are a lot more skilled at making other people work for them than vice versa. Please try to believe."

"Oh, we believe you," Melinda answers instead, while refusing the waitress who comes over with an offer of more coffee. "Your evidence is solid, and Skye actually collaborated it."

"Oh?" Grant looks at hactivist turned agent. "How's that?"

"I had some personal encounters with the drug dealers in question," Skye replies curtly, then realizes that some elaboration is in order. "Well, not 'personal' personal, I just saw their handiwork and tried to do something about it. It backfired, and I had to move. Then I got involved with you and Centipede and you know the rest." She blinks and realizes or remembers that that goes for Raina too, actually. "Yes, you really do know, don't you?" she asks the other woman.

"Yes," the latter replies, as she pushes away her plate, reluctantly. "I think I had enough – got to watch my diet, or it'll go straight to the thighs and hips." She pauses, adding less perkily. "And I think that the sniper-boy over there had enough too – they put some sort of alcohol into the coffee, judging by the taste," she turns to Grant who nods:

"Yes – liqueur for the ladies, rum for gentlemen. Director, agent May?"

The latter give the younger couple a hard look and look at Tripp who does seem to be in better spirits than before, save that the spirits in question are certainly connected to alcohol.

"Ward. Grant," surprisingly, it's Melinda who speaks, though perhaps because Coulson is explaining to Tripp that they're still on a mission of some sort, so getting wasted isn't a good idea, and who gets to pay the bill, anyhow?.. "Honesty for honesty. What you did, what Garrett did, was wrong, simply wrong. What we did was not any better, if not worse – after all, we are not Hydra, we should have been better than you – but we weren't, and almost paid the price for that." She shifts and looks at Skye now: "S.H.I.E.L.D. had arrangements with politicians in the past, and will have them in the future. Some of the politicians in question were, or are, or will be dirty, simply because they _are_ politicians, and career politicians at that. But even if the good senator Christian had done only one third, or one quarter, of what he _has_ done, then we would have suggested that he cleans up his act and we do not expose him – and that would have been the end of our interactions with him. S.H.I.E.L.D. _always_ did a background check on politicians that it tried to associate itself with – and it should have done now, but it did not, and we almost paid the price." She eyes Grant in her typical manner. "But don't expect any thanks from us, not yet."

"The one who you should be thanking is Raina – it's her idea," Grant does not back down either. "She is the one who wanted to have this meeting in person – if it were up to me; I would've just emailed you the info and be done with it. Raina insisted – and thanks to her I get to mend bridges, and friendship, with some of you at least, who twists and faces Jemma and Leo in turn.

"How nice of her," Skye mutters, not because Grant appears to be genuinely fond (or perhaps more than just fond) of the other woman, but because she's no fan of Raina, who until now was no friend of S.H.I.E.L.D. True, she wasn't Hydra, but she still was quite happy to help Garrett, at least to a point, and to experiment on Coulson and Mike and the others as well. "She's a real peach."

"Thank you, Suzy," Raina smiles fake-prettily as she wipes her lips carefully, so as to not to smudge the lipstick. "Considering that you're the Most Desirable Girl around here, this means a lot."

"First of all – Suzy?" Skye stares. "I'm _Skye_."

"Your father calls you Daisy, the official records – Mary-Sue Poots," Raina's smile does not waver. "Put them together with 'Skye' and you got Suzy, Suzy Poots to be precise." She pauses, pretending to think. "Well, there's also Mary – maybe Muzey? Agent Muzey-Suzy Poots?"

'Agent Muzey-Suzy Poots' is doing her best to kill Raina with her mind – so far it isn't working. Maybe because she isn't Melinda May? Melinda can probably kill people with her mind, like totally!

"Raina." Grant tries to intervene.

"What?" Raina puts on an innocent face and even flutters her eyelashes, fooling no one. "I said 'Muzey', not "Moosey', muse, not a moose. They're different words, they're spelled differently in dictionaries," she adds, facing Skye once more, before turning her attention to the other agents. "See? I can be helpful!"

"Raina," Coulson says quietly, but Raina sobers up at once. "Why are you in this? You were never a part of this, not a big one, and could be anyone, anywhere, yes? Grant – he was once a part of S.H.I.E.L.D., maybe he understands, or begins to understand, what it means to be a part of a team, but you?"

"I would like to think that I am beginning to understand, sir, or at least I would like to learn," Raina confesses, her confidence vanishing into thin air. "I _am_ self sufficient, maybe not as much as Grant over here, but that's not the point. The point is, it is not the right thing. I am not that different from Poots over there, but somehow everybody wants her – you, Hydra, her father – and no one wants me. I turned over half the world searching for _you_ for _your father_," Raina faces Skye face on, "and he still only cares about _you_. It isn't fair."

"Raina," Grant does not look too impressed by Raina's speech. (Neither does anyone else, actually. Raina is not as smart as she thinks she is, but she is nearly so, and a very good actress and public speaker.) "Don't."

"Fine," Raina pouts, but tones down the act. "I am also working with The Doctor because of this." She pulls out few photos out of her breast pocket and offers one of them to Coulson and May. "This Obelisk is supposed to give power and knowledge to the right person, and The Doctor promised me that I can be one of the right people if I give him his daughter. Only," she hands over the other photo, "there is more than one Obelisk around, if I understand correctly, so I think I would like to learn more about them, before I go in. Who knows what'll happen if get involved with a wrong one?"

"Now that makes sense," Skye nods sagely, when she notices that Melinda and Phil are giving the two photos a close look. "Yes?"

"I know that one," Melinda turns to the second photo. "It's a secret, protected site by WSC. I didn't know that you knew about it."

"I was a part of the WSC-S.H.I.E.L.D. joint effort just as you were, agent May," Grant matches her stare. "I had – have - my share of souvenirs from that time, not unlike you."

"Does Hydra know about it?" Coulson looked Grant straight in the eye. The younger man did not flinch. Silence stretched.

"Grant, please!" Leo finally spoke up, pulling on the bigger man's sleeve. "Please!"

"I am not Hydra, never was and never will be," Grant spoke then. "I owe them no loyalty, no allegiance, no nothing. I was loyal to Garrett – but Garrett wasn't loyal to anyone, and that is the thing, isn't it? I threw away perhaps the best thing in my life for nothing, and I have been paying for it ever since. But Hydra doesn't know about the WSC site in the Himalayas, though I don't know about Raina's site..."

"WSC certainly doesn't," Melinda said thoughtfully, but she never finished:

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" spoke S.H.I.E.L.D.'s favorite US military man, Talbot.

/

Unlike his usual getup, Talbot for once was dressed in a civilian style. It was not disguise or conspiracy, Talbot was one of such people that just cannot pass for anyone else but themselves, but just his version of casual clothing instead.

"Coulson," Talbot greeted the director without any particular warmth. "What are you up to now, calling my wife and asking her to have me meet you here?"

"Hello sir," Raina spoke up instead as she stood up, all perkiness and smile. "It's nice to meet you in person, we talked on the phone, remember?"

"Well hello there," Talbot said with much more enthusiasm and warmth in his voice. "I see Coulson finally got himself a new intern. Nice to meet you in person too, cutie." His glance shifted from her to Grant. "Can't say the same thing about you, though. Your brother – the rest of your family – they got problems, attitude and the like, too. But at least their loyalties lie on the right side and they don't make claims that they can't support."

"Their loyalties lie firmly and strictly to themselves alone," Grant said evenly, even as he pulled another folder, similar to the one that he had given Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. earlier on the streets, to Talbot. "And here is the support."

With (feigned) disinterest Talbot took the folder and began to flip through it. As he did, his face began to turn rather red and bulging and if there had been any gamma radiation around, he would probably turn into a Hulk-like being completely. But since there wasn't (this was D.C., there aren't any gamma radiation sources lying around, at least not legal and/or overt ones), he had to settle instead for just flipping through the pages, turning steadily tenser and throwing more and more names around, almost unconsciously, names that sounded more like places (and places overseas from the US) than people (at least that is how it sounded to Leo and Jemma).

Abruptly, Talbot slammed the folder shut and glared at the agents. "You aren't going to pull your disappearing act and vanish, leaving me in the dust right now, are you?" he said. "'Cause I need to call people about this, people who need to know about this, and who need to talk to you too."

"Please do," Tripp said grandly before anyone else could (he had really been hitting the coffee here, apparently). "We'll be waiting."

They did not have to wait long. Within an hour, several more people arrived, mostly male, dressed largely in casual clothing (capital version), for it was the long weekend, and people were taking their time off even here, to spend it with their families, as they told Talbot without any particular diplomacy – even with his (limited) success regarding S.H.I.E.L.D. both against and with, Talbot wasn't a likable man in these parts.

That changed when Talbot showed them the contents of the folder. (Coulson and May snuck a peek at it – it was basically the same thing that Grant and Raina had given them, so no foul play _here_). Their reactions were similar to Talbot's, save that this time there was less of vague mutterings and name-throwing, and more of a meaningful conversation, rather quiet, but still intense.

Finally, one of Talbot's friends (political or otherwise), approached them with a definitely military being in his step. "Sir," he quietly told Coulson, looking about as uncomfortable about it as the director felt cautious and wary, "I guess I have to apologize to you. I assumed that you were just stringing George all along," he jabbed his thumb back at Talbot, "for he is an easy man to string along and unlikable one too."

"Why are you friends with him, then?" Coulson felt that he had to ask.

"'Cause our _wives_ are," the man, showing an ID of a member of the US military police officer. "Friends, that is. Isn't that the same with you," he gave a pointed look at both Coulson and May.

There was a pause as everyone simultaneously avoided looking at Coulson and his 'wife' and tried to explain to the nice man how relationship of the couple in question actually worked. (A spade is a spade, but human relationships are trickier.)

"But this isn't why I am here," the bloody bloke replied. "I am here firstly because I also want to say hi to Antoine over here and enquire when he is going to come over for dinner, for it's been a while, even my mother-in-law had forgiven him, and that is an achievement of its own." For some reason he took another look at May but this time he said nothing about it. "And secondly? Thank you for sharing this with George and the rest of us. S.H.I.E.L.D. is not particularly popular around here, though there were rumors of you running some sort of a political campaign to fix it, Christian was talking about mending bridges with an estranged brother of his..."

"Let's be frank here," May spoke up, interrupting the man with a glare of hers. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is going through a rough patch right now, and the fault of it lies with our own. However, the emphasis is on 'our own'. Agent Grant... he has issues and will be seeing a therapist for a good long time, but he is still a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. His brother the senator and the rest of that family? They are something else, and S.H.I.E.L.D. wants no part of them."

"Good, good to hear this," the man nodded. "For while your people are good, we got our own share of proof and evidence too – we just needed yours to put it all together, for yours is _really good_." A pause. "George knows how to contact you, right? Because we might need to talk to you in the future about this still, to have you testify in court and all..."

"We'll have to work on it, but yes, we'll cooperate. We'll need to agree on a schedule, too," Raina spoke up before Melinda could.

"Good," came the reply, "and incidentally, are you _sure_ that you're not related to my mother-in-law? The similarities between you are uncanny, see?" and a family photo was shown, primarily to Melinda, the others were able only to glimpse it briefly.

But Melinda May, the Cavalry, took a good hard look at the photo, before giving it back with an enigmatic look on her face (even for her). "Yes," she spoke, her voice hard and tightly controlled. "This is cousin Jun. How is she?"

"Fine, just fine," the reply was still oblivious-sounding. "And you can ask her yourself – just give us a call, I'm sure that she would love to meet you and your family," he pointed to _both_ Coulson and Skye this time. "Well, see you around," and he was off, leaving behind a group of very uncomfortable people.

"Check, please!" Grant spoke smoothly to a waiter.

/

Outside, the feeling of discomfort did not go away; even the numerous cars - police, armored, etc – going past them with lights and sirens to arrest the good senator cannot distract them.

"So," Melinda speaks with a voice that implies that she should continue to talk – or else. "Let's wrap it up, shall we? It has gone long enough." Nobody is stupid enough to point out that it is just ten in the morning, and not just because it was a rather long morning. "Grant, what you have done would be considered unforgivable by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s standards, and normally? By now you would be gone from our lives forever, but this did not happen, and it is our fault. In fact, this whole thing turned almost into another fault, and it would've been our doing." She eyes Coulson, but says nothing and perhaps not just because all words regarding his brief and unthought-through deal with the senator had been already said earlier today. "But...honestly, this wasn't your plan, was it, Grant?" and there is a curious note in her voice now, one that is hard to pin down.

"Answer me this," Grant says quietly. "You honestly didn't know what kind of man my brother is, and his family?"

"No," Melinda admits. "And _that_ is our fault. I won't say that you did not deserve to be punished, but this? This would've been a disaster for everyone here."

"In that case," Grant takes a deep breath. "I assumed that you were in on all of this, I planned to cut you off. I know that I could be tolerated by you only because I was useful and I could accept that. But my biological family? No, just no – they were going down, and so are their associates."

There is a pause as Grant visibly puts himself, his temper into check. "Anything else?"

"Garrett didn't know?"

"I never told him about anything that I had acquired," Grant faces them on, before almost imploding (slightly). "I thought that he was a good man – compared to them he _was_ a good man – and I didn't want him to know that by sharing the blood with Christian and the others I was rotten to the core, so he never did." A pause. "And now, of course, that had worked for the best, isn't it?" A challenging, bitter question.

"Yes," Coulson agrees, looking again through 'their' folder and speaking up for the first. "Your family was looking to expand its holdings and influence, and if it had found Hydra? Whitehall, and Pierce, and Garrett and others would've eaten them alive, indigestion or not, and then, with their resources, our past situation would've been worse." He closes the folder and looks Grant straight in the eye, and the younger man does not flinch. "You broke our trust and I don't know if we'll be ever to trust you again. But – now that has gone both ways, with your brother, and you did get the upper hand here, and you did not bury us as we did to you. That...makes you a better man, and a man that can work in S.H.I.E.L.D. So, let us put you on probation. There will be trackers. You will not be able to handle anything more lethal than an ICER. You may or may not be allowed to remain in S.H.I.E.L.D. There will be therapy. Do you accept?"

"Yes sir, I do." Grant does not hesitate or almost. "But-"

"But?"

"Raina and I are package deal, and I owe her, and I promised her-"

"And we'll honor it," Coulson gives her a look. "Mind you, I trust her even less – at least you were in S.H.I.E.L.D. once and appear to understand what it stands for. She... I do not know where she stands, what she seeks, if she cares about others-"

"I have no idea," Raina replies instead, "but uh, and um, can I try? Somehow it seems really – interesting..."

"We'll see about that," Coulson nods, not looking very impressed, "is there anything else?"

"Well," Tripp shrugs and reminds the others that Coulson and Skye will still have to be Melinda May's family when she goes to meet her cousin.

And there are hijinks and ruckus in the street and agent Tripp actually ends up being thrown into the brig not for a very long time – but that is another story. (Raina actually gets to bring him sandwiches there).

End


End file.
